ROYERSFORD — Gordon Bolig said neither he nor any of his Owen J. Roberts teammates were thinking about the team title during last week’s inaugural Pioneer Athletic Conference Championships. At least not until the public address announcer uttered the team standings going into the final round … standings that revealed Boyertown, not Owen J. Roberts, had already clinched the team title.

“I don’t think any of us were aware (of the points standings) until that last round,” Bolig recalled. “So we knew coming into this week, with all of the individuals we had, we wanted to do our thing … get as many as we could to regionals and also win the team race.”

Well, the Wildcats sure did do their thing throughout Saturday’s District 1-Class AAA West Tournament at Spring-Ford High School, going a perfect 5-for-5 in the finals and adding in four other medalists to capture the team title.

Derek Gulotta (113 pounds), Colby Frank (126) – who was named the Outstanding Wrestler for the second consecutive week, Demetri D’Orsaneo (138), Adam Moser (145) and Bolig were all golden, while Brad Trego (195) took a third to give OJR six Southeast Regional qualifiers. And combined with fourths from Aston White (106), Peter Fratantoni (152) and Tyler Rogers (170), the effort added up to 135 points … and quite a distance between the Wildcats and runner-up Spring-Ford (86).

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Upper Perkiomen (79), Boyertown (76.5) and Methacton (60) followed in the scoring as PAC-10 teams occupied the top five spots in the 21-team field.

Overall, the Wildcats and their PAC-10 rivals held the upper-hand most of the day. In the end, the league was represented in all but one of the 14 individual finals, winning nine – with Upper Perkiomen’s Wolfgang McStravick (132), Boyertown freshmen Gregg Harvey (152) and Jordan Wood (220), and Methacton’s Tracey Green (285) accounting for four the Wildcats didn’t get their hands on.

“We knew we had a couple of guys out,” said Gullota, referring of course to the injured Dominick Petrucelli and Kyle Shronk. “We also don’t have a heavyweight. We knew we were a few guys down, but as the tournaments get tougher we feel we have a chance.”

“We didn’t talk about (winning the team title) that much,” added Moser. “We just felt if we wrestled our best we could win it.”

“Getting five in the finals and winning all five … that was awesome, that was great,” he said. “With the schedule we wrestle, with the preparation we do, it pays off. I think you could really see that tonight. We were able to finish matches.

“And the way the kids bounced back from last week. I’m proud of them, all of them. The team title rested on their shoulders, and they got it.”

Gulotta (35-5) had a major and two pins, the second over Spring-Ford’s pesky Ryan Hayes (29-8) in their final at 113.

“I knew I had a tough weight class,” Gulotta said. “I knew every match was going to be tough. This year there’s been more pressure, but I hope to ride that pressure back to states and get another medal.”

Speaking of tough weight classes, Frank was in yet another – like he was a week ago. But a pin, 7-0 shutout of rival Sean Hennessey of Spring-Ford and then a dramatic 5-2 decision of Marple-Newtown’s Ryan Flynn (30-3) in the final was golden and good enough for another OW honor.

Frank led just 2-1 with under two minutes remaining, but the OJR junior (24-4) hit a tilt for three near-fall points and that was enough to hold off the highly respected Flynn.

“I lost to (Flynn) twice before, and both were close matches,” Frank said. “So it was a little revenge. He was one guy I had never beaten before. And I didn’t want to settle for anything less than gold, either.

“It was like getting that monkey off my back. Right now I feel like nothing can hold me back.”

Same thing for D’Orsaneo, who’s been battling an aching back and needed some injury time to get a kink or two out. But he looked fit as a fiddle after his 9-5 final over previously unbeaten Matt Pelton (31-1) of Radnor.

“I wanted to win this one real bad,” D’Orsaneo said after improving to 27-13. “(Pelton) was undefeated, but I like being the underdog. But right now I’m wrestling better than I have all year. I think I stepped it up at sectionals, and I’m wrestling well now. I just have my confidence back, and I had been lacking that before.”

Moser sure didn’t look as though he was lacking anything Saturday. He opened with a major, held off feisty Jon Cooper of Spring-Ford, then took down Garnet Valley’s Jon Dambro (28-5) in the final.

“I was happy getting into the finals,” said Moser, who’s been battling back from a little-known throat injury since the Christmas break. “(Dambro’s) tough, so I knew I had be stronger this time.”

Bolig was about as strong as anyone – a 60-second pin, second-period technical fall, and the 11-4 nod over Penncrest’s Liam Frank.

McStravick was lone gold medalist for Upper Perkiomen, which earlier had Dustin Steffenino (106) and Dante Steffenino (120) settle for seconds – ending their respective 22- and 29-bout winning streaks. Later, unheralded Ray Young added another second at 152.

Harvey and Wood gave Boyertown its first two freshmen gold medalists in the upperweight brackets of any previous district tournament.

Harvey (29-11), who came out of the preliminary round, upset top-seeded Nick Giangiulio (32-2) in a 5-4 semifinal squeaker, then capped his show with a narrow 7-6 decision of Young. Wood (40-1) had a much more difficult time with rival Pat Finn (25-4) than he did in his previous two wins against him, but nonetheless held on for a 6-5 win.

And before it ended, Green (32-3) captured the 285-pound bracket for the second successive week with 9-0 major of Perkiomen Valley’s Luke DiElsi (27-10). Green had a first-period pin and 8-0 major in his previous bouts.

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In addition to the champions and already mentioned runners-ups, the PAC-10 will also be represented at next weekend’s Southeast Regional by-Ford’s Matt Krieble (120), Jon Cooper (145) and Tyler McGuigan (170), all third; Boyertown runner-up Cody Richmond (160) and third-place Eddie Kriczky (126); Methacton runners-up Joe Staley (132) and Mike Baccaro (195); Perkiomen Valley’s Giangiulio (152), who was third; and Pottsgrove’s Nico Demetrio (132), who was third as well.

NOTES

Upper Merion sophomore violinist Kaitlyn Lutz gave a stirring rendition of the National Anthem prior to the finals. … DeRafelo and Upper Darby’s Bob Martin were honored as the PAC-10 and Central League coaches of the year. … Unofficially, the PAC-10 accounted for 18 of the 28 finalists.